Teen Suspect Charged With Murder, Kidnapping

BELLEVILLE, Ind. – An 18-year-old suspected of gunning down his girlfriend's parents and fleeing with her in tow returned to Pennsylvania Tuesday and was charged with double murder and kidnapping.

David Ludwig was flown back from Indiana — where he and his 14-year-old girlfriend,Kara Beth Borden, were arrested some 600 miles from the crime scene a day earlier.

In court at his arraignment hearing, a reportedly calm Ludwig was charged with two counts of criminal homicide, one count of kidnapping and one count of reckless endangerment. No bail was set and he did not enter a plea.

A preliminary hearing was scheduled for Nov. 23, after which he is entitled to a jury trial.

Ludwig — who was taken to Lancaster County Prison — faces life behind bars or the death penalty for the most serious, double-murder offense. He doesn't yet have an attorney.

He told the judge that he understood the charges against him, has no prior criminal record, is not addicted to drugs or alcohol, lives at home and works at Circuit City.

A guardian for Kara Borden was appointed Tuesday and the girl arrived back in Lancaster County, Pa., where she was re-united with her family.

Earlier Tuesday, Ludwig waived extradition. Hendricks County Prosecutor Patricia Baldwin said the teen signed documents at the Hendricks County Jail in Danville, Ind., that cleared the way for Pennsylvania authorities to take him home to face murder charges.

The young suspect arrived by plane in Pennsylvania, where police escorted him away in an orange-and-white striped jail suit, his wrists and ankles in shackles. He was reportedly cooperating with authorities.

Kara was unhurt in the ordeal but was described as emotionally overwrought and "frantic."

"Kara is upset. She’s crying," said Warwick County Police Chief Richard Garipoli of Pennsylvania in a news conference Tuesday. "She’s a 14-year-old child. We seem to forget that. She’s devastated."

She hadn't yet been questioned by authorities, who were thus far not treating her as a suspect.

"She is the victim in this case until I hear otherwise," Garipoli said.

It was still unclear whether Ludwig kidnapped his girlfriend or whether she left with him willingly after her parents, Michael F. and Cathryn Lee Borden, were shot to death early Sunday. It also wasn't yet known whether Kara had any role in the killings.

Few details were known about the pair's trip. Authorities said they don't know the route they traveled, if they had family or friends in Indiana or if they were simply passing through the state.

Ludwig was arrested Monday after he crashed his parents' red Jetta head-on into a tree in Belleville, Ind., about 20 miles west of Indianapolis. He was held in a jail in Danville, Ind., until he was flown back to his home state.

Police say Ludwig killed Borden's parents after they and their daughter argued about her curfew when she came home late from a night out with him. The shootings happened at the family's home near Lititz, Pa., about 60 miles west of Philadelphia. Neither her parents nor his approved of the couple's relationship, mainly because of the age difference, according to various reports.

The Bordens, both 50, were apparently shot once each in the head, authorities said. Mike Borden worked for a printing company, and the children were home-schooled, said neighbor Tod Sherman. Sherman said the family knew Ludwig through a home-schooling network.

Kara's 13-year-old sister, Katelyn, told investigators her parents were shot after they argued with Ludwig for about an hour, according to court papers.

Katelyn said she saw Ludwig shoot her father, and then ran into the bathroom, where she heard a second shot, presumably the one that killed her mother, court papers said. Ludwig then ran through the house calling for Kara, she told investigators.

An alert for the girl was issued across the East, and police in Pennsylvania and Indiana investigated reported sightings of the pair as they made their way west in a red Volkswagen Jetta.

Authorities received a report Monday morning of a vehicle matching that description at a truck stop near Fort Wayne. Troopers went to the area, but the car was gone.

Information about the car was broadcast to police statewide and troopers spotted it around midday on I-70 in Belleville, said Indiana State Police 1st Sgt. Dave Bursten.

Ludwig got off the interstate and led them on a 5-mile chase at speeds of 90 mph to 95 mph on a two-lane state road, police said. Indiana Trooper David Cox said Ludwig was "very reckless and very dangerous at that point," meeting vehicles head-on and running them into a ditch.

Bobby Poteet, 36, a former volunteer firefighter who witnessed the final accident said he heard sirens and watched the three cars speed by, before Ludwig's car careened into a tree.

"They were flying," he said.

After officers pulled Ludwig from the car, Borden got out and was "frantic," screaming and crying, Cox said.

No weapons were found in the car.

Stephanie Mannon, 16, who worked with Ludwig, said the two had been seeing each other secretly. "Their parents didn't approve of them being together" because of the age difference, she said. "It wasn't because he was a shady character, because he wasn't."